W&M Libraries Resources to Support Teaching & Learning During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Below are some online resources for exploring digitized and digital collections. Please email us at spcoll@wm.edu with any questions or requests.

The W&M Digital Archive is a digital repository that preserves and makes accessible selected unique or rare digital and digitized material from Special Collections, University Archives, and William & Mary Libraries over the long term.

University Archives accessible on the Digital Archive include:

• University publications, such as issues of The Flat Hat ranging from the newspaper’s debut in 1911 to the 21st century.
• Faculty Assembly Records, including eighteenth and nineteenth-century Faculty Minute Books recording the meetings of faculty and staff.
• Journals, letters, and photographs sharing the everyday insights of students on campus, like the Scrapbook of Campus Life, 1915-1920, and the diary of Martha Barksdale.

Manuscripts and rare books on the Digital Archive range in form, content, and date. Some notable collections include:

• Resources preserving the lives and resilience of African Americans, from records of the dehumanization of enslavement to family photos highlighting kinship and everyday joy.
• The Cuban Film Poster Collection, showcasing Cuba's rich cinema and vibrant graphic design traditions.
• Over 100 issues of Cash Box, a mid-twentieth century alternative to Billboard Magazine, that published its own regional chart data and feature articles.
• Personal papers of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe.
• W&M Libraries’ first edition copy of Isaac Newton’s Principia.

Many of our University Archives and digitized collections are also available through the Internet Archive.

You can view full copies of university brochures, the Colonial Echo, periodicals and more in a convenient, pageable format.

The Oral Histories database is home to our collection of oral history videos honoring the 50th and 100th anniversaries of the first African American and women students at W&M, as well as other unique stories.

Older oral histories are also available on the W&M Digital Archive.

W&M Libraries strives to provide exhibits that engage, educate, and inform, and entertain visitors while promoting library and university resources and programs. Digital exhibits allow you to explore recent exhibits in more depth and from anywhere in the world.

• Ancestry: William & Mary users can access billions of records in census data, vital records, directories, photos, and more.
• Explore the digital collections of the Library of Virginia and the Library of Congress.
• Find digitized rare books and manuscripts from a wide array of institutions, including W&M Libraries, on the Internet Archive.
• The Internet Archive just released their National Emergency Library to support remote teaching, research and learning.
• Learn about Virginia's history and culture using Encyclopedia Virginia, a free, reliable, multimedia resource that tells the inclusive story of Virginia for students, teachers, and communities who seek to understand how the past informs the present and the future.
• View archived websites through Archive-It and the Wayback Machine.
• Transcribe the Georgian Papers: The Georgian Papers Programme is a partnership between the Royal Collection Trust, King's College London, the Omohundro Institute, and William & Mary. This transcription site is one component of the overall project, and aims to produce transcriptions of the papers in the Royal Archives and Royal Library relating to the Georgian period, 1714-1837. Create an account to start reading and transcribing!